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NEW: Mayor announces new partnership on public safety – October 7, 2004
Update from Campus
Partners:
Prepared for residents of the University District
September 22, 2004
Contents:
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Community Properties celebrates demolition of problem property Columbus Mayor
Michael Coleman, City Attorney Rick Pfeiffer and other community leaders
participated in a public celebration on Sept. 21 to mark the beginning of
demolition of the apartment building at Before
he mounted demolition equipment to strike the first blow against the
building, Mayor Coleman held up a thick stack of papers which detailed 753
calls to Columbus Police since 1998 reporting criminal activity, violence and
other problems involving this property.
“We are here to make sure that violence and crime are not a part
of this Property
manager Josh Martin coordinates CPOMS’s “Eliminate the
Elements” crime prevention program. He told the audience that the
demolition was only one part of the crime prevention program. With support from a federal grant
secured by Congresswoman Deborah Pryce, CPOMS leases a Columbus Police
cruiser and employs 24 police officers on special duty 72 hours per week to
follow up public safety matters affecting CPO properties. CPOMS also carefully screens housing
applicants, requires residents to abide by terms of their leases, and
encourages residents to participate in block watches, neighborhood civic
associations and crime prevention programs. CPOMS
doesn’t have specific plans for the future use of the lot at 228 E.
Eighth, although one temporary use may be a community garden. CPOMS welcomes suggestions from
neighbors for future uses. Crime Stoppers offers reward in murder of Anyone
with information about this crime should call Crime Stoppers at 645-TIPS
(8477). Crime Stoppers does not
use Call ID or record telephone conversations. A special coding system protects the
identity of the caller.
Contributing to the reward fund are Central Ohio Crime Stoppers with
$2,000; Clintonville area residents with $1,500; and University Area Crime
Stoppers with $500. Safety committee meets on football Saturdays and other public safety issues At
the meeting of the University Area Safety Committee on Sept. 15, public
safety officials and university and neighborhood leaders agreed that measures
to strictly enforce alcohol laws on Lane Avenue and in university parking
areas during home football games had improved public conduct and reduced
litter. Observers noted that
there was less public drunkenness, less public urination and fewer other problems. Although litter from beer cans and cups
was reduced on Lane Avenue, neighbors noted that litter remains a problem on
many of the nearby residential streets. Columbus
Police Commander Suzanne Curmode reported that eight armed robberies in the
northern part of the University District in August. She said four juveniles, who live
outside the University District, were arrested in one robbery and are thought
to be tied to at least three of the crimes. Community Liaison Officer Larry Geis
said that seven garage break-ins were reported in nine days recently in the
northern part of the University District. Although property crimes were high
during the summer, Commander Curmode said that had been a significant
reduction in property crime reports in late August and early September. Columbus
Police Chief James Jackson has recommended that patrollers with the Community
Crime Patrol (CCP) receive civilian commendations for their role in
apprehending two suspects in the shooting of two The
next meeting of the University Area Safety Committee will be Wednesday, Oct.
13, at 3:30 p.m. in Refuse Collection Division meets bulk trash challenge The
city’s Refuse Collection Division has made an extraordinary effort in the
last four weeks to remove bulk trash and garbage from the University
District. The collection crews
faced a huge challenge. In late
August, the mixture of garbage and bulk trash in the alleys of the University
District was worse than any time since the student move-out and move-in of
1996. In response to the piles of
trash in the alleys at that time, we worked with the city's Refuse Collection
Division to institute the annual special collection of bulk trash in
1997. The special collection did
seem to solve the problem until this year. We don't know why the piles in the
alleys are so bad this year, but Pasquale Grado of the University Community
Business Association and Campus Partners staff suspect that the ongoing
problems with the regular weekly collection of trash created a situation that
just grew out of control when the bulk trash began to appear in late August. As a
result of the ongoing discussions within the Campus Partners Public Service
Committee over the last eight years, the city had made substantial
improvements to refuse collection in the University District, including such
measures as a "dumpster zone," twice weekly collection, and the
special collection of bulk refuse.
Beginning last January, however, the very tight city budget appeared
to have impacted refuse service: • a
number of supervisory positions in the Refuse Collection Division were
eliminated; • twice
weekly service was eliminated and sometimes the regular Tuesday pick-up
slipped to Wednesday and even Thursday; • as
a result of being short-staffed, the division sometimes had to assign
less-experienced drivers to the University District, which at times resulted
in missed collections because the drivers were unfamiliar with the complex
alley and street system and had trouble operating the equipment in the tight
alleys. During
the winter, spring and summer, we had a noticeable decline in the appearance
of the alleys. It was not a
systematic breakdown, but overflowing metal dumpsters and 300-gallon
containers became a more common sight.
Many property owners did not clean up around the dumpsters, so the
trash added to the litter problem in the alleys. With few homeowners in the area, no
one took responsibility to call the Refuse Collection Division when a
dumpster was overflowing; residents just sat the trash beside the
dumpster. Mr. Grado, Mr. Sterrett
and Catherine Girves, director of the University Area Enrichment Association,
met in early August with Larry Hines, who came from Meanwhile,
the Refuse Collection Division geared up to deal with the annual special bulk
collection, which ran from Aug. 27 through Sept. 13. The division, in cooperation with
several University District property owners, designated nine collection sites
for bulk items, such as furniture, mattresses and carpet. SWACO provided transfer trailers to
take bulk to the landfill. Campus
Partners and the university publicized the collection to residents. The division worked overtime in the We remain
concerned, however, with the regular weekly garbage collection. We are willing to give Mr. Hines
another month to review the effective deployment of his staff to pick up the
refuse in the University District, but we suspect that twice weekly pick-up
– at least during autumn, winter and spring quarters – must be
reinstated if we are to keep our alleys clean. Mr. Grado, Campus Partners staff and
neighborhood residents will continue to monitor garbage collection in the
University District this fall, so we can be more effective in working with
the Refuse Collection Division in developing a service plan to meet the
neighborhood's needs by the end of autumn quarter. The
next meeting of the Campus Partners Public Service Committee on refuse
collection will be Wednesday, Sept. 29, at 4 p.m. in the Gateway construction proceeds on schedule Construction
at the South Campus Gateway site continues to proceed on schedule. The exterior wall and residential
framing of interior walls for the five-story Building B (southeast corner of
Chittenden and High) are proceeding rapidly. The steel erection of Building A
(southwest corner of West 11th and High) is now complete. Steel erection for Building C
(southeast corner of East 11th and High) is well underway. The foundations for Building D
(northeast corner of East Ninth and High) are being constructed. The parking structure contractor has
completed the concrete pours for the fourth level of the parking structure,
which continues to run slightly ahead of schedule. Campus Partners has now contracted for
the construction of all Gateway construction components except portions of Building
D and project hard-scape (plaza, landscaping, and Phase 2 public
improvements), and the housing along both sides of the parking structure
(buildings FN and FS). Campus
Partners and South Campus Gateway were among the sponsors of the recent
International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) Ohio/West Virginia
Deal-making Conference in Option secured on Campus Partners
reached an agreement in mid-August with Decorative Services International,
Inc., for an option to purchase the former Columbus Coated Fabrics site,
located on The
current owner of the property, Decorative Services International, is in
Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and has had the property for sale since
manufacturing ceased several years ago.
The 17.55-acre site includes a number of vacant buildings and gravel
parking lots. The site likely
will require significant environmental remediation. The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency has been on the site for several months overseeing the removal of
hazardous materials contained in metal drums. Campus
Partners negotiated the option to purchase the property in order to fully
assess the many challenges facing the site’s future redevelopment and
to help facilitate the active participation of the agencies involved in
regulating the required “clean-up” effort. The City of In this period of due diligence, Campus Partners has contracted for environmental and legal assessments of the site and will endeavor to estimate the projected environmental clean-up costs. Efforts also will be made to engage all of the appropriate agencies to fully examine the resources available to remediate and prepare the site for future redevelopment. Campus Partners has not identified the resources to actually acquire and clean up the site. The costs of clean-up and other liabilities currently are unknown, but they likely will be much greater than the acquisition price. Once the full legal and environmental assessments are complete and the city-sponsored neighborhood planning effort suggests the best future use(s) for the site, the most appropriate implementation strategies and implementation entities can be identified. |
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Campus Partners for Community
Urban Redevelopment, Inc.
1824 N. High
St., Columbus, OH 43201
(614) 294-7300; fax (614) 294-7333